


Master of the Underground

by EruthiawenLuin



Series: Life of the Summit [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dean Winchester - Freeform, First fic! Comments and constructive criticism welcome!, Harm to Animals, This is for Sam's birthday, and, and on the side is, crowley - Freeform, how do tag, in self defense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-27 03:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10800777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EruthiawenLuin/pseuds/EruthiawenLuin
Summary: An AU diverging from 12x15 "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell":He starts the car up and pulls out his phone. Dean answers on the third ring."Sam? What's going on?""Gwen and I ran into the hound.""And? Are you alright?""Listen, I'm on my way back. Just, promise to hear me out.""What's that supposed to me-"Sam hangs up.Yeah, Sam thinks as he scratches Ramsey's back.We're royally screwed.





	Master of the Underground

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @chiisana-sukima and @caranfindel for betaing! (They did not come up with any titles. That was lil ole Eru herself.) Any mistakes are my own.

"We should leave."

"No, no, no Gwen. I gotta take care of this. It's the only way she'll stop."

The thudding continues as Ramsey crosses over the Impala's roof. Gwen watches raptly as Sam digs past several weapons in his bag until his fingers find the distinguishably smooth hilt of his angel blade.

The back window shatters. _Dean's gonna be pissed_ is Sam's first thought. But as the raucous barking of Lucifer's Hellhound reverberates in his ears and the cracking glass sounds after another footfall, Sam knows he has a greater priority: the Impala isn't going to protect them.

"Stay in the car," Sam says. He faces her as he reaches for the door handle haphazardly and finds the power to fuel his voice. "Stay in the car!"

"Okay." She trusts he knows what he's doing. Good.

Sam gets out of the Impala and the door slams behind him. He holds out his blade. The hound seems to loom over him despite his stature. Ramsey’s powerful haunches launch her off the trunk of the Impala, landing her on the dirt a few feet before him, dust rising like a halo around her. She gnashes her teeth and growls, advancing on him. 

The hunter takes a protective stance and draws back his knife-wielding arm as Ramsey springs on him. Before he can react, she has him pinned down with her paws on his chest. His legs fold and his holy-smoked glasses are ripped off his face as he crashes to the ground. _Jinkies._

He lays flat, hands flung up to frame his head as if in surrender, but the invisible hound only stands and sniffs at his face curiously. The creature's snout smushes against Sam’s face.

Sam expects claws in his torso, but the feel of a wet nose on his own takes him somewhere he keeps in the furthest recesses of his mind. Old Bones unapologetically snatches Sam's lunch right out of his hands; it’s Riot as he jumps into Sam's arms, as if his size doesn't almost knock Sam off his feet every time; and he feels a dog's teeth gently tugging his ear and licking his face at the ass-crack of dawn, and the weight of a furry head in his lap and the protective _boof_ at unsuspecting passerby.

Still, Sam waits for this animal to tear him apart, claws catching the rungs of his ribs and leaving his chest in ribbons. It doesn't happen.

While Sam is suspended under the hound, Gwen makes her way around the Impala and hits Ramsey with an iron ax. Sam's beginning to think axes are her go-to. The dog whimpers and rears back, luckily, off of Sam. Unluckily, Sam doesn't quite know _where to_. Shock worn off, he stands backs up and circles blindly, trying to stand between Gwen and the dog, but when he meets Gwen's eyes, he knows Ramsey has the same idea. Sam can hear it in the gravelly huffs of breath as the hound takes each predatory step away from him. Ramsey’s sauntering, confident, aggravated. Gwen needs a diversion; she will not survive a hellhound attack head-on. She grips the ax close and steels herself for the oncoming attack.

Sam yells, "Stop!" and Ramsey stops. 

She doesn't try to attack him. Sam and Gwen stand lost, but eventually the girl inches around the perimeter of where she thinks the hellhound is—"Be careful," because Sam isn’t letting her get hurt as long as he’s here—and grabs the glasses off the ground. She puts them on and her expression transforms into one of disbelief as her eyes come to rest on the Hellhound sitting obediently in front of Sam. She tries to speak.

"Did- I-" 

He looks at her expectantly.

"I think it listened to you."

Sam’s brow creases in confusion as he attempts to comprehend what she's said; he looks back in the direction of the invisible hound to no avail. Gwen makes her careful way back to him and hands over the glasses as way of explanation. What Sam sees is Ramsey with her head bowed, kneeling like the Great Sphinx of Giza before him. It’s then that something dawns on him. There's no harm in testing Gwen's theory, so he holds his hand out to the beast and gives another basic command. "Come."

He watches bemused as she stands and struts towards him. Once at his feet, she licks his outstretched hand as if in apology. 

Sam and Gwen look at each other.

"I think you need to tell me what the hell is going on."

"Yeah, I wish I could." Sam turns back to Ramsey. "Hey, girl. Um.." he walks to the passenger side door and opens it wide. His command is understood and she rushes to meet it, leaving just enough space on the bench seat for Sam to slide in on the driver's side. He feels stricken.

Gwen gets in the car, fear diminishing as she sees the dog is under control. Sam sits in the driver's seat and doesn't look at Ramsey, who's happily huffing away in her spot. He starts the car up and pulls out his phone. Dean answers on the third ring.

"Sam? What's going on?"

"Gwen and I ran into the hound."

"And? Are you alright? What happened?" Sam scrunches his nose as Dean’s voice blasts through the phone speakers.

"It's, uh, it's taken care of."

"You killed it?"

"Listen, I'm on my way back. Just, promise to hear me out."

"What's that supposed to me-"

Sam hangs up.

 _Yeah_ , Sam thinks as he scratches Ramsey's back. _We're royally screwed._

Gwen purses her lips at him and chooses to break the ice. "I thought you said it was only loyal to Lucifer."

Ramsey whines. Sam shifts in his seat.

"She is! But..."

"But?"

He clears his throat.

"I have... connections. To Lucifer. Sort of.” Even without looking at the message written on her face, Sam knows his answer isn't enough. A breath, and then: “He possessed me, and he left traces. I'm tainted with it.” 

There, he said it. 

The word leaves a toxic aftertaste on Sam's tongue, but he makes an effort to ignore it as Gwen soaks up the new information. Her countenance shifts, face contorted as she collects herself to straighten out her next questions. "So, what, you think she sees some of her master in you? That you have some sort of Satanic fingerprint so somehow her loyalty to him extends to you, too?"

Sam focuses on the road in front of him: "Look, I'm as clueless as you are. But she's had all the opportunity in the world to make us into roadkill."

He steals another glance at Ramsey. She's tense but she looks oddly content.

"I just don't know how else to explain it."

In the rear view mirror, Sam can see a familiar expression on Gwen's face. The same one he wore when she broke and admitted her guilt over Marcus' death. He looks away so he doesn’t have to face her sympathy.

The rest of the car ride is silent. When he pulls off the dirt road, Sam sees Dean take in the damage to the car. His glasses aren't on and Sam takes the extra moment before he has to fess up, but when Crowley draws his attention to the translucent mass in the front seat, their expressions shift into a mix of bewilderment and almost imperceptible fear, demanding an explanation.

Sam and Gwen get out of the Impala. "I can explain."

"What the Hell, Sam!" Dean starts in on him but stops abruptly as Sam crosses to the other side of the car. He opens the door to let Ramsey out and sighs when paw prints appear as the dirt under her is displaced. Crowley and Dean both back up.

"Atta girl. Now- stay. Yeah, good girl, good girl," he soothes. Sam scritches her between the ears and if he didn't know better, he'd say she was almost purring. No one moves.

Crowley's thick accent is the first thing that disturbs the silence. "Fascinating," he says, like Sam's just been out bug-collecting and brought back a new specimen and _not Lucifer's hellhound_.

"What?" Dean snaps. Sam looks nervously at him but ducks his head before he can see.

"She's not just loyal to Lucifer,” Crowley explains. "Lucifer's got his scent all over you, hasn't he, Sam?"

Crowley steps in his direction.

"Handsy, isn't he. You've still got his grace in you."

Sam and Dean both make a face at the innuendo, but it's Ramsey's growl that makes Crowley back off.

"So this is what you meant when you said it was taken care of? This is not under control, Sam!"

"Dean, please. She's _the_ Hellhound! It's not like you can just hack at her with what-have-you and call it a night; I wasn't about to try and piss her off more! Listen, Crowley can lock her back up-" 

A defensive bark rips out of the thin air next to Sam. 

"-or not."

"Keep her." Sam and Dean look at Crowley as if he's just suggested they take Lucifer out for tea and crumpets. _Which we’ve basically already done_ , Sam laments.

Crowley elaborates: "I can't have her downstairs."

Dean lets loose a full body, sardonic laugh. "He says he can't take the hellhound!" He turns to Sam, hands in his pockets. "He says he can't take it!" 

Dean smiles sharp, white and glistening, and suddenly he isn't concealing his rage anymore. His pockets are empty and he has Crowley by the lapels of his onyx suit. "And why the Hell not? This is your mess, not ours!" 

Crowley remains unfazed. "She's gotten out once already. Does it look to you morons like I'm going to risk a security breach in my kingdom again?" He ends in a demanding growl with an edge of a threat: "Keep her.” The demon promptly disappears.

"So, it's over now?" Gwen asks.

Dean's face makes it clear for all the world that it is not over. For Sam, at least.

"Yeah, you're safe."

Neither expects her to turn around and cling to Sam.

"Thank you."

Sam smiles, pleasantly surprised, and hugs back the best he can, which is not much with his forearms trapped under hers. 

She turns around and looks at Dean, and he nods, not expecting Gwen to shoot herself into his arms, too. 

Dean smiles at Sam over her head.

"Just doing our jobs," he tells her.

Ramsey makes an impatient sound and Sam looks down to find her sitting at his feet. 

"Let's get you back home, huh?"

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it through this splatter of Sam-love indulgence, kudos to you. Don't be shy; tell me what you thought ( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o)


End file.
